The news comes after Fellaini’s decision to move forward with a wrist operation that’s expected to keep him out of action for up to six weeks.

The Belgian international went under the knife this past weekend to repair tendon damage suffered while playing against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in early October. Since that match he’s played with a protective cast.

Fellaini was originally expecting to go forward with the surgery in January but a lingering back issue preventing him from playing convinced him to go forward with the surgery early.

David Moyes discussed the issue earlier today. “We just couldn’t get him recovered from his back. We thought it would be okay after 10 days but it wasn’t getting any better so we made a quick decision to get the wrist done.

“We think it will be six weeks, but there is a chance it could be shorter than that.”

The news won’t cause great dismay among Manchester United supporters, who have been heavily critical of Fellaini’s start to his Old Trafford career. The £27.5million summer signing from Everton has failed to impart the rampaging style he made famous at Everton. Instead he’s looked tentative and at times, sloppy on the ball.

“I have no doubt he will eventually be a good player for us,” David Moyes said. Until then, he ‘s expected to miss seven Premier League games, including Chelsea away on January 19th, both legs of the Capital One Cup semi-final with Sunderland, and the FA Cup third and fourth rounds.

You know what? This is probably best for him in the long term. He’s already been labeled as a “bust”…..or at the very least has failed to blow everyone’s socks off.

Now, by the time he comes back, the expectations will be lowered and anything he does seems like a bonus. He’s really not a bad player and it isn’t his fault that Moyes and Woodward bumbled the transfer window so badly that they had to buy Fellaini for that price. Sure, he probably should have been a £10MM transfer guy and if he was at that level, he wouldn’t be expected to be a savior, but a guy to provide depth and flexibility to the manager in terms of unique match-ups based on the opponent.